


Grounding

by Asynchronous



Category: Sanders Sides
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 06:27:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10985259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asynchronous/pseuds/Asynchronous
Summary: Logic asks such weird questions.





	Grounding

**Author's Note:**

> I've always found the technique called "grounding" to be the most effective anxiety technique, so I decided to try to work out how that works with Anxiety. I dunno if this is psychologically accurate at all, but... it amuses me, idk.

"If he doesn't go to bed now, he's not going to get enough sleep to function well tomorrow," Anxiety announced, appearing in the room where the other three were working together on video ideas.

"He's right," Logic agreed. "It's time to go to bed."

"Uh, no? I never said it was time to go to bed," Anxiety snarled. "He has way too much to get done."

"But you just-" Morality started before being cut off by Anxiety.

"Yeah. I'm here to point out what a stupid situation you all got yourselves into. Again. Logic, if only you had made a better plan! Princey, if only-"

Anxiety was obviously very concerned about the time conflict, but this entire line of thinking was just frivolous. Logic could see the sense in both things that Anx was saying, but trying to achieve two incompatible goals at once would get them nowhere. Logic stopped listening for a moment to consider how he might get Anxiety to calm down long enough for them all to discuss an actual solution. He'd researched plenty of ways to calm anxiety, but nothing was ever guaranteed to work. So, he decided to start with one of the easier methods and made his way to the kitchen.

"Hey!" Anxiety protested. "Where are you going? I'm not done telling you everything you did wrong today!"

Logic simply ignored him, walked into the kitchen, grabbed the first thing he saw on the counter, and came back.

"Anxiety, what is this?" Logic asked, holding up the object.

"Uh... a tomato?" Anxiety said, confused.

"Correct. Could you tell me what color it is?"

"Red... Logic, did you finally short-circuit?"

Logic ignored the question and stepped up close to Anxiety. He held the tomato up to Anx's face. "Smell it."

Anxiety was too perplexed to argue. "Yeah, it smells like a tomato."

"Good, good," Logic encouraged. "Now, do me a favor and..." He took Anxiety's hand and placed the tomato in his palm, gently wrapping Anx's fingers around the fruit. "Squeeze it."

Anxiety blinked blankly before twisting his face back into a scowl. "What? No! I'm not going to-"

Logic made his best attempt at a puppy face. He was certainly no Morality, but they had the same face, maybe it would work. Which reminded him, the others were still in the room. A quick glance at their faces indicated that they were just as confused as Anxiety was, but didn't want to interrupt. The alternative was to let Anxiety keep insulting them, and neither wanted that.

Anxiety sighed. "If I squeeze it, will you stop being weird?"

"Eventually," Logic promised.

Anxiety rolled his eyes at the vague answer, but squeezed the tomato anyway. "There. Happy?"

"I was hoping you would break the skin."

"Why?!? It's a perfectly good tomato!"

"I'll use it, don't worry. Just squeeze it as hard as you can."

Anxiety looked like he was pretty close to his hissing point, but held it back, instead choosing to channel all of his frustration into the squishy red fruit in his hand. He crushed it as hard as he could until the seeds dripped onto the floor and the juice ran down his fingers.

Logic's face remained blank. "How does it feel?"

"Stupid, like your face."

"No, I mean, physically, what does the tomato feel like?"

"Squishy and weird, like your face."

Prince couldn't help but wince. "Is that really the best you can do?"

"Is that really the best you can do?" Anxiety mocked.

Logic still didn't react. He needed Anxiety to focus. "Last request. Taste it."

Anxiety looked at the tomato with a raised eyebrow. There was a trail of juice getting dangerously close to his sleeve. He quickly ran his tongue along the side of his hand, trying to get as much of the juice off as possible to protect his jacket.

"Thank you, Anxiety," said Logic. "What does it taste like?"

"It tastes like a tomato," Anxiety said between licks. "Have you never had a tomato?"

"I know what it tastes like to me," Logic said. "I want to know what it tastes like to you."

Anxiety pondered for a moment. "It's... actually really hard to explain. Sweet isn't the right word. A bit tangy? But tangy is too strong of a word... Wait, I forgot, I'm annoyed with you, are you going to explain why I'm doing this?"

Logic grabbed a nearby towel and handed it to Anxiety. Anxiety began to clean his hands, but continued to look at Logic suspiciously. "Well, Anxiety," Logic explained, "you, much like myself, are a big fan of analyzing things. However, sometimes, you get caught up on analyzing intangible what-ifs, and that can get..." He took the tomato-ed towel and gestured at it for emphasis. "Messy. Sometimes, it's best to just focus on something that is definitively there. Like this tomato, for example. It's called grounding."

Morality finally chimed in as understanding dawned on his face. "Oh! That makes sense! I have to tell you, Logan, I had no idea what you were doing, but it looked like fun! And to think, it's good for you too!"

"It doesn't have to be messy, though I realize you are quite a fan of messy things," Logan responded to Morality, pushing up his glasses. He then turned his attention back to Anx. "Just something to focus the senses. I chose the tomato because I could cover four of the five senses with it. I guess I could have had you listen to the squish, but you were understandably a bit annoyed, and I didn't want to push you. Thank you for cooperating, though. How do you feel?"

Anxiety scoffed. "Physically?"

"If that's what you'd rather answer."

Anx sighed. "Tired. I'm going to bed."

Successful mission. "Great idea. I think I'll do that too," Logic nodded.

Roman and Patton looked at each other and nodded. "Yeah. Sleep sounds good."

Anxiety started to leave, but paused. "Uh... goodnight, everyone."

The other three smiled, appreciating the gesture. "Goodnight, Anx!"

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: This ended abruptly with them going to bed because I WROTE THIS TOO CLOSE TO BEDTIME AND I WANT TO GO TO SLEEP goodnight pals hope it makes sense up until the point where I decided I didn't care anymore and just wanted to sleep


End file.
